It’s been 10 years since I took a million dollar pay cut to pay all staff at Gravity Payments a $70,000 minimum wage. People have wondered: How did it go? We conducted a comprehensive study of everything that has happened since our 2015 announcement. We are proof that paying living wages is good for both employees and businesses. Since raising wages, our revenue and profits have soared, employees have started families while continuing to provide excellent customer service, and clients have become happier and stayed longer. It worked so well that we raised the minimum to $80,000 and added an employee profit-sharing program. Yet outside our company, it made no impact: no businesses followed suit, and the pay gap between workers and CEOs remains massive.

A key reason we are different: We are 100% privately owned with no need to appease stockholders or outside investors like private equity. Simply put: If our leadership decides to do something, we can do it. At most big companies, raising wages is seen purely as a cost increase, with no thought given to potential long-term gains. When public companies announce layoffs, their stock typically rises in the short term—and executives’ pay rises with it. This short-term mindset views wage increases as an overwhelming net negative. Even at locally owned businesses, cash reserves are often so limited that a wage bump isn’t fiscally feasible in the short term, even if owners believe in the long-term benefits. We were unique in that Gravity (A) had nearly a decade to build a solid, growing business before raising wages, and (B) had a major expense to cut—the CEO’s pay dropping 91%—to offset increases elsewhere. The underlying truth remains: most businesses simply don’t want to try this, believing it will bankrupt them. We’re here to prove otherwise.